An Israeli soldier has sparked outrage by posting a photograph appearing to show the back of a Palestinian boy's head in the crosshairs of his sniper rifle on a social networking site.

The context of the picture, posted on the personal Instagram site of Mor Ostrovski, 20, could not be verified but the aggressive message is clear. The minarets and Arabic architecture of the village captured in the background suggest the boy and the town are Palestinian. Ostrovski is an Israeli soldier in a sniper unit.

The Israeli military said the soldier's commanders were investigating the incident. His actions "are not in accordance with the spirit of the IDF or its values", a spokesperson said.

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Breaking the Silence, an organisation of veteran Israeli combat soldiers campaigning to raise awareness about life in the West Bank, condemned the image. "This is what occupation looks like. This is what military control over a civilian population looks like," one member wrote on the group's Facebook page.

5. Let's be very clear.

Soldiers are like this. This is their job and in their mind they have to justify killing. Racism, nationalism, ego and much more have always been part of a soldier. They are ready or they are dead. A little research will show this is only the latest outrage over a soldier opening his mind for us to see.

In previous wars the mail was opened and censored. There would be no bulletin board material for the enemy. No leaks. No outrage because nobody knew outside the group what was said.

Here we are with open internet and social media available to every soldier in the world. Should this be censored?

One last point. Soldiers do not make policy. They only do what they're told. The outraged should keep that in mind while fuming.

Now bust him for being an idiot! Shame him publically to show that this is not acceptable.

7. "This is what occupation looks like."

That is the heart of the issue this brings up. Mr Ostrovski morals and actions are only the window onto what it means to have war and occupations and all forms of institutional violence.

If the reaction is only to remove the image, punish the solider and even institute some kind of training program for all soldiers about how inappropriate this is the only thing accomplished would be to hide this one visible symptom of the human condition.

Punish Mr Ostrovski maybe but to me the more important response would be to use this incident to face the horrors of the situation in that part of the world and the hurt and pain it is causing for the people of the west bank, the occupied and the occupiers.

12. And if the Nazis had had Social Media...

And if the Nazis had had social media, this type of sick shit would have been all over the place. Absolutely disgraceful! The solider in question should be court marshaled. As the world's biggest supporter of Israel, I don't want to hear people say, Gee, why do they (the Islamic world) hate us so much?

14. We need to treat the Palestinians as equals

The Palestinians need to stop the terror and the Israeli's need to give up some land and stop the settlements. If not, no more aide from America. We have been too one-sided in favor of Israel. And no, I am not anti-Isaeli.

Days after a Golani Brigade soldier posted a photograph of a Palestinian boy in the crosshairs of his rifle, a new scandal emerges surrounding an Israeli soldier's online photos.

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"Israel Defense Forces soldiers’ social-media activity is once again creating a storm on the Internet, just days after a soldier who posted a photograph of a Palestinian boy in the crosshairs of his sniper’s rifle drew harsh criticism.

The current outrage has to do with a Golani Brigade soldier who posted pictures of himself on Instagram, smoking what he says are joints, while in uniform. The soldier uploaded a second photograph of a bound Palestinian prisoner, and also boasted on Twitter of having killed a Palestinian.

Electronic Intifada first reported on the soldier's photographs and apparently spent time rummaging through the photos he posted online. The site posted a number of his pictures, including one of him half-naked and holding a weapon. The soldier has since blocked his accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

Among the other photos included in Electronic Intifada's report were two with English captions reading “Keep calm and kill people in your mind” and “Keep calm and take over Gaza.” Another picture shows a map of the Gaza Strip with the caption “Soon to be a giant theme park!!”

The report also included the soldier’s response to an Arab user's comment on Facebook, in which he wrote, “For all I care you can comment all my pictures, you’re just a f--king Arab pile of s--t, you even smell like it….”